October 2000

A Celebration of AIDS?

During General Convention NEAC presented a Eucharist and Service of Healing at St. Andrew’s Church in Denver. The Rt. Reverend Rodney R. Michel, chair of the Episcopal Church’s Committee on HIV/AIDS, spoke. This is in part what he said:

Lord, give me your grace, to speak with your authority, in the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Rt. Rev. Rodney R. Michel, NEAC board member who chaired the church Committee on HIV/AIDS in the last triennium, preached on the issue in San Pedro Sula, Honduras (shown here) as well as throughout the United States.

The Rt. Rev. Rodney R. Michel, NEAC board member who chaired the church Committee on HIV/AIDS in the last triennium, preached on the issue in San Pedro Sula, Honduras (shown here) as well as throughout the United States.

I read from that powerful eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Verse 28: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to [God’s] purpose.”

Isn’t that a paradox? The one writer in the Bible who has been most fervently used to fan the flames of homophobia, and assisted the church in its repression of gays and lesbians, and provided the materials for the pelvic theology which governs so much of Christendom, is the same writer who gives us these words, as well as some words I will quote in a short while. They are words that should be used at every healing service, AIDS conference, and memorial or funeral service for one of our sisters or brothers who have died of AIDS. All things work together for good for those who love the Lord ….

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord ….”

How can that be, when we are far closer to the end of the beginning than to the beginning of the end of the AIDS crisis? How can we believe that, when there are companies making big money from the sale of medicines that prolong the life of people with AIDS, but the cocktails are so expensive that the marginalized millions in our world don’t have a chance or a dream of ever receiving the medications? …

Can we find the good in the people who say, “This is God’s vengeance upon sinners. People get AIDS because sinners deserve God’s retribution”? And it is still being said, let’s not fool ourselves about that. Is there any good where a public health crisis has been turned into a moral commentary? Are you angry yet?

I hope that a righteous anger is born anew in many hearts tonight so that more people will get out into the world and help to fight against this damnable, dreaded plague, and all the horrible rhetoric and thinking that goes along with it.

And yet, dear friends, in the midst of this planet-wide pandemic we can still say, with St. Paul, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers … nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” I am convinced that neither the AIDS pandemic, nor the injustice towards the marginalized, nor the generations of people—gay and straight—who have died and will not be able to contribute to the good of our society, nor the millions of people who will die before this plague has ended, nor the millions of children who will die or be orphaned by the disease … nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God.

Because God is love and God loves unequivocally. God never gives up on us. This is God’s universe and God is still in control. No matter how dark the hour, how grave the crisis, how devastatingly death stalks the world and her inhabitants, nothing can separate us from the love of God.

With that assurance and that message on our lips and in our hearts we can perhaps make some sense, see some light, have a hint at how all things work together for good for those who love God…

In the midst of the AIDS pandemic, Stephen Levine says, “To heal is to touch with love that which we previously touched with fear.” Could we have come to that realization otherwise?

Sadly, but positively, the AIDS pandemic has brought together all the world’s religions to address a universal disaster and to discover how very much in common we do have when it comes to compassion, mercy, love, and grace to our sisters and brothers of the human race.

AIDS and “celebrate” are not usually two words that go together, but think:

  • We celebrate the love and commitment shown by countless families, friends, lovers and buddies who have been caretakers and partners on the journey.

  • We celebrate the decreasing isolation and prejudice experienced by those with AIDS as society becomes more compassionate and supportive.

  • We celebrate the lives of those who have died—and the chance we had to know and love them.

  • We celebrate those who are living with HIV/AIDS right now and their triumph daily over the struggles caused by this disease.

  • We celebrate what all of us have learned about living one day at a time and appreciating the time we have with those we love.

  • We celebrate the many volunteers who have given their time to make other’s lives just a little bit easier and sweeter.

  • We celebrate all those who have participated in AIDS walks, and made panels for the magnificent AIDS quilt, which now covers acres.

  • We celebrate years of AIDS healing services.

  • We celebrate God’s love throughout this pandemic—to all affected and infected.

  • We celebrate the realization that so many have come to through their involvement with people with AIDS—that God has no other hands than ours to heal and comfort and console and embrace. The warmth of the sun travels on the air, but the warmth of God’s love can travel only through each one of us.

  • We celebrate the reality that many more people have learned Micah’s words to “do justice, love goodness, and walk humbly with God” in the pursuit of an end to AIDS.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.”